National Case Writing and Analysis Workshop

With the changing time, the management education in India is also changing. More and more management Institutes in India are now adopting the “Case Method” for teaching the management theories and practices. The case method, as per the experts has upper hand in teaching management to students as it blends theory with real life situation in a class room environment. Students find this simulation of real business world in to a class room stimulating and challenging as compared to traditional teaching practice. This method also has an advantage of making class room sessions interactive as the students are required to provide their views on the situation being discussed.

Writing cases is a challenging task, but the learning outcomes that stem from their use can be rewarding. Case writing involves complex and reflective endeavors as well as the opportunity for creative expression. A case writer has to analyze, evaluate, interpret, and synthesize information and ideas. In fact, writing cases can enrich one’s teaching and research. The writing process comprises four major activities: planning, organizing, drafting, and revising.

However the availability of relevant and quality cases is seen as constrain, faced by many faculty members while adopting this method of teaching. Realizing this shortage in availability of cases, Pioneer Institute of Professional Studies, Indore in association with Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS) organized a three day workshop from 28th -30th March, 2011. The main objective of the workshop was teaching the participants better case writing techniques and effective tool for analyzing them in class.

Preparations for organizing the workshop began a month in advance which included sending emails and calling over phone potential participants at national level. Invitation letters to experts were sent to ensure that there is no last minute cancellation of scheduled lectures. After receiving the confirmation letters from various participants, the groups were formed comprising of faculties from the same functional areas i.e. Information Technology, Finance, Human Resource and Marketing.

The workshop began by an Inaugural Lecture by the much known personality Dr. Nishint Dubey, Director, Maharaja Ranjeet Singh College, Indore. Dr. Dubey started by explaining why we need a case and went on to discuss the structure and advantages of case teaching. It is based on an in-depth investigation of a single individual, group, or event. Case studies may be descriptive or explanatory. Case study should be defined as a research strategy, an empirical inquiry that investigates a phenomenon within its real-life context. He said case study research means single and multiple case studies, can include quantitative evidence, relies on multiple sources of evidence and benefits from the prior development of theoretical propositions.

The Second Session of the first day was started by the eminent personality, Dr. P.N. Mishra, Prof., Institute of Management Studies, Indore. He began by defining a case and explaining the art of analyzing the case. He gave significant tips on solving the case and explained the history of case. He also discussed a classical case from Harvard, which is widely used by leading business schools.

The Third Session of the first day was started by Dr. V.K. Jain, Director, Pioneer Institute of Professional Studies, Indore, who focused the participants attention towards various ways of data collection for writing a case and finer details that involved experience of practicing managers for gathering quality information. This was scheduled in the post lunch activity as industrial visit by the participants. After lunch the participants in their functional groups were sent. The IT group visited Yash Technologies, Finance group visited HDFC Bank, Marketing group visited Bharti Axa and HR group visited Reliance HR Solutions.

The Second Day of “National Case Writing and Analysis Workshop” began by sharing of the participant’s experiences while gathering information for case writing, followed by a session regarding the Do's and Don'ts of case writing by Dr. V. K. Jain. After this session, the participants had sufficient knowledge and information regarding the preparation of a case. It was a time now to give participants time and space to sit in ones own group and prepare a rough draft of the case, based on the information collected on the previous day. Before the participants call it a day, all the groups got ready with the printouts of their final drafts revised at least three times before taking a final print for submission.

Before the case presentations, Mr. Yashveer Singh gave a demonstration on the usage of EBSCO. He demonstrated how to use EBSCO Information Services, which is the leading service provider of e-journal, e-book and e-journal package and print subscriptions, e-resource management tools, full-text and secondary databases, and related services for all types of libraries and research organizations.

The Third Day began by presentation of cases by participants in groups, critical comments and suggestions by all the participants in a session which was chaired by Dr. V.K. Jain. He saw all the presentations, analyzed the appropriateness of the title, the contents, etc.

The presentation session was followed by lunch and informative session by Dr. Pawan Patni discussing the various approaches for teaching a case and tips to be given to students for solving a case in examination. Case study refers to the collection and presentation of detailed information about a particular participant or small group, frequently including the accounts of subjects themselves. A form of qualitative descriptive research, the case study looks intensely at an individual or small participant pool, drawing conclusions only about that participant or group and only in that specific context. Researchers do not focus on the discovery of a universal, generalizable truth, nor do they typically look for cause-effect relationships; instead, emphasis is placed on exploration and description.

Photo Session and the Distribution of Certificates of participation marked the end of three day long National Case Writing and Analysis Workshop.